This Week in Digital…

Becky Grainger

January 15th 2015

This week in digital

Google Translate App

One month after Skype announced a real-time translation feature that allows users to translate conversations between English and Spanish, Google have now launched their own voice translation feature. The mobile translation app has now been upgraded to allow users to instantly translate messages using their mobile phone’s camera. The World Lens feature works without wi-fi or a data connection and allows the user to get a translation in 36 languages.

In an official blog post, Google stated; ‘Simply tap the mic to start speaking in a selected language, then tap the mic again, and the Google Translate app will automatically recognize which of the two languages are being spoken, letting you have a more fluid conversation. For the rest of the conversation, you won’t need to tap the mic again – it’ll be ready as you need it. Asking for directions to the Rive Gauche, ordering bacalhau in Lisbon, or chatting with your grandmother in her native Spanish just got a lot faster.’

Facebook Encourages Embarrassing Pictures

The latest Facebook trend is to share your first profile picture and then nominate your friends to do the same. Unlike the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge the new trend isn’t to raise money for charity and it’s unknown how it started or the reasoning behind it. With Facebook just about to turn 11, it does mean that Facebook fans from the start have pictures dating back to the 2004, the year of velour track suits. Whoever started the trend has made Facebook a lot more entertaining.

Cadbury Face Social Media Backlash

This week, social media has been filled with angry creme egg lovers heartbroken by the change from the usual six pack to a five pack. Shoppers have been left wondering what to do after the brutal cut and have taken to social media to voice their disgust.

With the decrease in eggs you would expect a decrease in price but Cadbury made the decision to keep the pricing exactly the same and blame it on the ‘rising commodity costs’. Thanks Cadbury, Easter is now ruined…

BlackBerry Tweet from an iPhone

This week, saw another brand face a social media mishap after a member of BlackBerry’s PR team was caught sending a promotional twitter from an iPhone. The Verge were the first to notice that the tweet promoting the BlackBerry Classic’s Twitter features was ironically sent from their biggest rival the iPhone. The tweet was quickly deleted but not before numerous sites had a screenshot of the embarrassing mistake.

And Finally…

This week saw the announcement of the 2015 Academy Awards nominations and much to the distress of the world The Lego Movie has missed out. The Internet responded badly to the news of the film being left off the list and instead the Oscar for Best Animated Feature will go to the likes of How to Train Your Dragon 2 or Big Hero 6. The Director of the movie, Philip Lord reacted to the news in a perfect way by making his own Oscar…